Meet Our Heroes
Riviera Spa isn’t your typical day spa. Tucked in North Dallas, this wellness haven has built its reputation on something most competitors have abandoned: couples massages. But that’s just the beginning.
While other spas lean into quick-fix relaxation, Riviera takes a therapeutic approach. Their massage therapists don’t just soothe sore muscles, they fix bodies. Their Fire and Ice experience offers guests a private suite where they alternate between sauna sessions and cold plunges for a full hour, creating a contrast therapy experience that’s as restorative as it is indulgent. Add in floatation tanks, HydraFacials, waxing, and traditional spa services, and you’ve got a wellness center that caters to everyone from stressed-out professionals to couples looking for a shared escape.
Their clientele? Primarily women aged 22 to 42, with household incomes of $60,000 or more. These are Dallas locals who prioritize self-care, value quality over convenience, and have the discretionary income to support their wellness routines. Riviera Spa had the services, the location, and the experience. What they didn’t have was visibility.
Their Goals
Riviera Spa’s goal was simple but critical: increase foot traffic to their North Dallas location. They wanted to fill their appointment calendar with bookings for massage, facials, couples sessions, and their signature Fire and Ice experience. They had the capacity, the expertise, and the product. What they needed was awareness.
The spa had dabbled in influencer marketing a year prior, but it fizzled out without moving the needle. They’d never launched a single paid ad online. No Google. No Facebook. Nothing. They were relying entirely on word-of-mouth and organic reach in one of the most competitive wellness markets in Texas.
For a business with premium services and strong profit margins, that was leaving serious money on the table.
The Challenge
Riviera Spa was invisible where it mattered most: online search.
When someone in North Dallas typed “couples massage near me” or “best spa in Plano” into Google, Riviera wasn’t showing up. Meanwhile, competitors like Massage Envy, Hand and Stone, and Spa Habitat were dominating the local search results with aggressive paid campaigns and strong SEO footprints.
The spa had no digital advertising infrastructure. No Google Ads account. No pixel tracking. No retargeting audiences. No landing pages optimized for conversions. They were starting from absolute zero, and in a hyper-local service business, that’s a massive disadvantage.
On top of that, their service offerings were diverse. Massage. Facials. Floatation tanks. Fire and Ice. HydraFacials. Waxing. Each service attracted a different audience with different search intent, and each required its own messaging, targeting, and creative strategy. Riviera needed a partner who could build a multi-layered campaign from scratch and make every dollar count.
They also faced a branding challenge. While their therapeutic approach and couples massage offerings set them apart, that story wasn’t being told anywhere online. Potential clients didn’t know what made Riviera different from the chain massage studios down the street.
Digital Time Savers had to build awareness, drive local traffic, and position Riviera as the go-to wellness destination in North Dallas, all while working within a starting budget and competing against established players.
Our Process
Phase One: Building the Foundation
Before we could drive traffic, we needed infrastructure. Riviera Spa had never run a paid ad, so we started by setting up the fundamentals: a Google Ads account, conversion tracking, audience segmentation, and campaign architecture designed specifically for local service businesses.
We began with hyper-local geo-targeting. Riviera’s ideal clients lived within a 7-mile radius of their North Dallas location, spanning zip codes across Dallas, Richardson, Plano, Addison, Carrollton, Garland, The Colony, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Coppell, and Irving. We built campaigns that only showed ads to users searching within this precise footprint, ensuring every impression had the potential to convert into a real appointment.
Next, we mapped out the customer journey. Someone searching for “best massage near me” has different intent than someone looking for “couples spa day Dallas” or “HydraFacial Plano.” We created separate ad groups for each core service: therapeutic massage, couples massage, facials, Fire and Ice, floatation therapy, and waxing. Each ad group had its own keywords, ad copy, and landing page experience tailored to that specific service.
For example, our couples massage ads emphasized Riviera’s unique ability to offer private, therapeutic sessions for two, a service most local spas had phased out. Our Fire and Ice ads highlighted the exclusive private suite experience, positioning it as a luxury wellness ritual you couldn’t find anywhere else in North Dallas.
We also focused on search intent. We targeted high-intent keywords like “spa near me,” “massage therapist Dallas,” “couples massage North Dallas,” and “best facial Plano,” ensuring we captured users who were actively looking to book, not just browsing.
Phase Two: Creative That Converts
Riviera wanted a hands-off approach. They trusted us to handle the creative, the messaging, and the strategy. So we leaned into what made them different.
Our ad copy didn’t sound like typical spa marketing. Instead of generic phrases like “relax and rejuvenate,” we spoke directly to the therapeutic benefits Riviera delivered. We called out their specialization in fixing bodies, not just pampering them. We highlighted their couples massage availability, a rarity in the Dallas market. And we positioned Fire and Ice as an experience, not just a service.
We also addressed objections and built trust. Ads mentioned their experienced therapists, private suites, and therapeutic focus. We used extensions to showcase reviews, highlight specific services, and make it easy for users to call or book directly from the search results.
Because Riviera had never run ads before, we didn’t have historical data to work from. So we tested aggressively. Multiple ad variations. Different headlines. Various calls-to-action. We monitored click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost-per-click daily, iterating based on what was resonating with the North Dallas audience.
Phase Three: Optimization and Scale
Once the campaigns were live and data started flowing in, we shifted into optimization mode. We identified which keywords were driving the most bookings and which ad groups had the highest conversion rates. Services like couples massage and Fire and Ice became clear winners, so we reallocated budget to amplify what was working.
We refined our audience targeting, layering in demographic filters to prioritize women aged 22 to 42 with household incomes above $60,000. We used dayparting to show ads during peak search times, when people were most likely to book spa appointments: weekday lunch breaks, evenings, and weekends.
We also built out negative keyword lists to filter out irrelevant traffic. Searches for “free massage,” “massage school,” or “DIY facials” weren’t going to convert, so we excluded them to keep costs lean and conversions high.
As performance improved and Riviera saw consistent appointment bookings, we were able to scale the investment strategically. We introduced remarketing campaigns to re-engage users who had clicked on an ad but didn’t book, reminding them of Riviera’s services and encouraging them to complete their reservation.
We also expanded into Google Local Services Ads, giving Riviera even more visibility in local search results with a “Google Guaranteed” badge that built instant credibility.
Phase Four: Sustained Growth and Market Dominance
Within months, Riviera Spa transformed from digitally invisible to a dominant presence in North Dallas wellness search. Their appointment calendar filled with new clients discovering them through Google. Fire and Ice sessions became a signature draw. Couples massages were booking weeks in advance.
But we didn’t stop there. We continued refining campaigns, testing new ad formats, and exploring additional services to promote. We introduced seasonal campaigns around holidays, targeting users searching for spa gift certificates or couples experiences. We optimized for mobile, ensuring ads and landing pages loaded fast and looked flawless on smartphones, where most local searches happened.
We also worked closely with Riviera’s team to align our campaigns with their operational capacity. As demand grew, we adjusted pacing to ensure they could handle the volume without compromising service quality.
Results
From a standing start with zero ad spend and no digital presence, Riviera Spa achieved transformational growth:
- Appointment bookings increased by over 240% within the first six months, with consistent month-over-month growth as campaigns matured and optimized.
- Became the dominant spa presence in North Dallas search results, consistently appearing in top ad positions for high-intent keywords like “spa near me,” “couples massage Dallas,” and “best facial Plano.”
- Generated hundreds of qualified leads monthly, creating a steady pipeline of new clients booking massages, facials, and Fire and Ice experiences.
- Couples massage and Fire and Ice sessions became the spa’s most in-demand services, often booking weeks in advance due to increased visibility and targeted messaging.
- Built a retargeting audience of over 8,000 engaged users, creating a sustainable marketing asset for ongoing promotions and seasonal campaigns.
- Achieved profitability that significantly exceeded industry benchmarks, proving that strategic local advertising can deliver exceptional returns even in competitive wellness markets.
Riviera Spa didn’t just enter the digital advertising game. They became the benchmark for wellness marketing in North Dallas, proving that with the right strategy, even a business starting from zero can outperform established competitors and build a thriving, sustainable client base.
